Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install the DRW-1814BLT in our test computer. After making sure that the drive was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.
Software Installation:
As I mentioned earlier, the DRW-1814BLT comes with a CD full of software from Nero. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.
By now most of you should be pretty familiar with this menu. From here you can choose to install Nero 6, Nero Media Player, or ASUS DVD. Simply click the name of the application you want to install, and its setup program will start up automatically. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to start burning your own discs.
The Documentation:
Like the DRW-1612BL, the DRW-1814BLT doesn't offer much in the way of documentation. The closest thing to a manual is the drive's "Quick Installation Guide". This small, fold out guide is broken up into 20 different languages with each language getting about a page worth of instructions. While these instructions take the user step by step through the installation process, the small size of the diagrams keeps them from being very useful. Also, if you're looking for things like the DRW-1814BLT's specs or system requirements, you'll have to check the back of the box or visit ASUS's website. You won't find that information in the guide.
For ease of installation, SATA drives like the DRW-1814BLT are hard to beat. If you can plug in a few cables, you probably won't have any problems. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by the documentation. The brief instructions probably won't phase more experienced users. However, they might leave others in the dark. With this in mind, I give the installation a 7 out of a possible 10.
